Marketing tips, observations & philosophy, plus a few rants and random musings - from those who practice, preach and teach marketing, research, advertising, public relations and business strategy.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Psychology.......it's not just Freud and couches.

When I say the word "psychology," what comes to mind? For most people, it is probably an image of a person lying on a couch telling a therapist their life story. Or maybe its a vision of Sigmund Freud saying that our desires and wishes can be revealed through dream analysis. Although these things are a part of psychology, they are a very,very small part. Psychology is so much more! Psychology is defined as the science of behavior and mental processes, so in other words why do people think or act the way they do.

Based on that definition, I would think anyone who's in marketing, advertising, or public relation would be interested in psychology. What factors will make my product/service attractive to the public? When speaking to a crowd, what makes me appear credible? Psychology fits hand in hand with marketing! Here is an example from Elliot Aronson's book The Social Animal, "Compared to opinions, attitudes are extremely difficult to change...In order to understand how to change attitudes, first it is essential to understand the complexities of human thinking as well as the motives that lead people to resist change." Read the book, you'll be surprised how informational and interesting it is.

6 Comments:

When I started college, I wasn't sure why I needed to take a Psych course. After a few moments in my first Marketing class, I understood. Your post was a great reminder of how much behavior and perception (and therefore, psychology) plays in the industry. After all, image and perception is EVERYTHING!!!!

Your post reminded me of one of my greatest -- no the greatest problem with marketing -- the fact that a person can earn an MBA in marketing without taking a single course in psychology.

In my latest book, Ageless Marketing, I make a case that while statistical analysis in the past, when markets were ryled by youth, worked reasonably well as a substitute for understanding behavior, the behavior of today's older, more individuted, introspective and autonomous consumer majority (folks 40 and older) cannot be reduced to numbers as easily.

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